More you read, and we are reading more, more we run the risk of losing common sense. Media is changing, you can’t deny that. Source of information and diversity in opinion both are increasing exponentially. Can trust follow that same mathematical trajectory? It’s possible but we are not wired for instant trust the way we are wired for instant gratification.

Two different studies were conducted to gauge how online consumers react to blogs. Forrestor Research group conducted research on corporate blogging. They focused on corporate blogging as all their clients come from that segment. Unsurprisingly they found most of the corporate blogs, like most of the corporate websites, suck. This finding was expected as alternative outcome would have meant - ‘Why the heck we need Forrestor consulting if our blog strategy works?’.

Shameless corporate blogging, like aggressive website marketing pitch, is asphyxiating.  People don’t trust self patting and there is more trust if corporate blogging comes from customer service department as against hyper-ventilating marketing group. As per the survey corporate blogging sucks so bad that it ranks among other unwashed out lets such as direct mail. Ouch.

Josh Bernoff wrote on Forrestor blog:

‘Not only do blogs rank below newspapers and portals, they rank below wikis, direct mail, company email, and message board posts. Only 16% of online consumers who read corporate blogs say they trust them. If you’re a corporate blogger or somebody who advises companies, you need to take this into account.’

Non-corporate blogging is a different game. It’s mostly man-to-man contest and both parties have limited agenda to worry about, chances for gaining reader’s trust are higher here. That is an important indicator as confirmed by recent study done conducted by BuzzLogic and Jupiter Research.

While the rise of blog readership in recent years is no secret, the power of blogs to influence what people buy is less established. But as a recent study reveals, that power is significant — so much that a majority of blog readers say blogs are useful when they make purchases.

The study, which polled 2,210 people and was released this fall, found that the increase in blog readership from 2004 to 2008 was 300 percent; 47 percent of online consumers now read blogs.

Half of blog readers said blogs were useful when they were considering what purchases to make, and more than half of that group said they looked at a blog just when they were about to buy something.

Blog readers are also more likely to trust advertising on a blog than on a social network like Facebook, the study found; 25 percent said they trust blog ads, with 19 percent trusting social network ads.

Acquiring instant trust is something we engineers are still working on. We will get there sooner or later. In the meantime following basic tips will help in a big way in adding trust to your corporate blog.

Net takeway is simple. If you have a product then you should have a credible blog as well. If not then chances are that your competitors are blogging eating your lunch.